Clover Court Blog; week commencing 27^th May:

Open Evening:

We would firstly like to say a huge thank you to those parents who made it along to our Open Evening which we held on Wednesday the 22^nd May. We really appreciate your input into your children’s learning and development and it’s also great to have a bit more time to share with your child’s Key person. ‘Next Steps’ for your child’s learning and development are currently being completed by your child’s Key Person so you should receive a copy shortly.

Chatter-packs:

We would like to comment on the effectiveness of our chatter-packs systems which have been implemented in both Nursery and Preschool. We have a selection of books available for you to borrow (just like the library). This selection will continue to grow.

Baby Room:

This week in baby room, we are really pleased with the progress that our new starters have been making. We would like to say a warm welcome to Jackson, Esme and Maisie! The babies have also enjoyed interacting with the toddlers this week as we have spent a lot of time playing together in the garden.

Nursery Room:

This week in nursery, we have been exploring different textures in the creative room, playing with flour, hair gel and dry spaghetti. We have also really enjoyed using different tools to paint with such as sponges and our fingers and hands!

We have enjoyed hunting for wiggly worms in our garden as the weather has been quite damp!

We have had a big spring clean in Nursery and have changed our learning environment around slightly, we hope you like it!

Preschool:

We have a lot of children that will be leaving preschool in September to go to ‘big school.’ For this reason, we will be incorporating activities into the next few weeks which will encourage the children to think about and discuss how they feel about moving up to ‘big school.’ We will be creating a role-play schools opportunity for example, and will talk about what schools we are going to and what colour uniforms we will be wearing etc in preparation for this transition.

We will also be supporting the younger children in our room with transitions that they may be experiencing in their lives; moving house, new babies etc.

Louise and the team at Clover Court

Blog update week commencing 6^th May:

Ruth (Nursery Room):

We would like to inform you all that Ruth from the nursery room will sadly be leaving us here at Clover Court. Her last day will be the 4^th June 2013. Ruth will be moving to Burgess Hill and has found a job at a nursery within the local area. If Ruth is your child’s Key Person then Ruth will inform you of their new Key Person at the Open Evening on Wednesday 22^nd May (if you are not able to attend this evening then please speak to Ruth after this date).

We’d like to ask you to join us in saying thank you to Ruth for her time here (7 years), and wish her the best of luck with her new job.

6.00pm finishes:

Can we please remind parents to ensure that if their children are booked in until 6.00pm, that they are picked up on time, as our staffing is done so in accordance with ratios. If you find that you struggle to collect your child by 6 o’clock, please speak to Louise (Manager) or Kelly (Deputy) about possibly extending your child’s session until 6.30pm to cover yourself and avoid late fee charges. If you are running a few minutes late, we really appreciate it if you can give us a call to inform us.

End of term:

For those of you who’s children are three and receive the free entitlement sessions, please be informed that these sessions do not include half term/end of term weeks. Therefore we would like to inform you that the end of term for the funding is Friday 12^th July. Any sessions booked within the summer holidays will be charged at the full rate. If you would still like your child to attend during the summer holidays, but would like to reduce their weekly attendance, then please speak to Louise (Manager) or Kelly (Deputy).

If you have any questions regarding the above discussion points then please ask.

Louise and the team at Clover Court

Blog update – week commencing the 22^nd April:

Sam (Nursery Room):

We are pleased to announce that Sam (Nursery) has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Sam gave birth to Madison, weighing 8lbs 1oz on Tuesday 8^th April at 8.04am. Both Sam and Madison are doing really well.

Kim (Baby Room):

We would like you all to join us in congratulating Kim (Baby Room) with her pregnancy announcement. Kim is due to give birth on the 18^th October this year.

Chatter-packs:

Clover Court Pre-school and Nursery will soon be implementing a chatter-packs system which will allow parents and children to choose from a selection of story books to take home and share together. The chatter-packs will also include prompt cards to encourage parents and carers to make the most out of the learning experiences that can be taken from stories.

Sunshine:

At last we have been experiencing some pleasant spring/summer weather! We are all enjoying the sunshine, but can we please remind parents/carers to provide us with some sun cream that is suitable for their child and fill out a permission form for us to apply the named sun cream. Please could we also ask you to bring in named sun hats, thank you! Let’s hope the nice weather lasts!

Toys from home:

Can we please ask you to discourage your children from bringing in toys from home. Although it is nice for the children to bring one toy in to show their friends at ‘news time,’ we do not wish to be responsible for any lost toys. We hope you can appreciate our reasoning for this request. Obviously we are happy for children to bring in any comforters, dummies, blankets etc.

Louise and the team at Clover Court

'Footprints in the Forest'

‘Footprints in the Forest’

Today, the children at Clover Court Pre-school went on an adventure to Ivy Cottage’s Forest School. Before we left, we made sure that everybody had been to the toilet to prevent any accidents whilst we were out, we then wrapped ourselves up as much as we possibly could in all our ‘winter’ finery, ready to brace the ‘spring’ weather. We made sure that all the children and the adults were fully equipped with the necessary tools that would guarantee a successful ‘bug hunt.’

We were ready, and all very excited indeed!

When we arrived, we set up camp in the middle of the forest and begun our exploration. A couple of our friends needed some reassurance as we were feeling a little bit scared and frightened of the forest, in particular the trees.

We soon discovered that most bugs use the big, heavy logs as their secret hiding places as the soil is nice and moist there. As a result of our highly skilled ‘bug hunting,’ we found lots of big, juicy worms, woodlice, beetles, and snails, and Jo was very impressed with her find of 5 baby newts!

Whilst investigating the natural environment, we also discovered the ‘Gruffalo’s Cave’, and came across some gigantic ‘Gruffalo footprints,’ which could easily have been mistaken for rabbit and foxes holes!

All aboard the ‘Tree Train’ for our mid-morning snack!

By this point we were all feeling a little bit sorry for ourselves as we were understandably getting a bit chilly, so we decided to start making tracks.

When we got back to pre-school, we discussed and evaluated our findings by compiling individual sticker charts. After lunch we drew pictures of our favourite bugs which we will use to create a display in Willow Room.

All in all, we’ve had a lovely day together, and the children have been very well behaved.

Photos of our adventure will be published shortly!

 

The Team at - Clover Court Pre-school

Blog Update w/c 18^th March

Easter Celebrations:

Week commencing the 25^th March, Clover Court Nursery and Pre-school will be providing the children with learning experiences that promote the festivities of Easter. We will be holding an Easter Bonnet competition and parade on the Thursday 28^th March. Other activities planned for the week include:

·        Cooking – making Easter Nests with shredded wheat, chocolate and mini eggs.

·        Easter cards

·        Decorating paper mache eggs

·        Easter egg hunts in the garden

Forest School Trip:

On Thursday 4^th April, Clover Court Pre-school have planned a trip to visit Ivy Cottage’s Forest School. Ivy Cottage is another setting within the Cranbrook Company group, and they are lucky to have a small forest attached to the back of their garden. We would like to take the children to explore the forest and do a little bit of bug hunting which is a strong interest amongst the children at the moment. The pre-school team will be handing out permission letters for the trip, please complete and return them to confirm your child’s attendance.

Buy and Sell:

We have had one of our parents suggest that we add a buy and sell page to our blog for the parents to use. We’d just like to ask who would be interested in us setting this up. If we get a good amount of responses then this is something we’d be willing to put into place. Likewise, if anyone has any other suggestions as to how we can make our blog more interactive, then we’d welcome the feedback.

 

Red Nose Day:

We would like to say a huge thank you to our parents for supporting our Red Nose Day activities and for your kind donations.

Louise and the team at Clover Court

 

 

 

March 2013

Red Nose Day

On Friday 15^th March we will be participating in Red Nose Day. Please can we ask that you dress your child in the colour red and provide them with a red nose. We are also going have wacky hair for the day so any style goes, go CRAZY. We ask that you please donate generously as this is a great charity event. We look forward to seeing your wacky hairstyles.

Baby Room News

We would like to thank all the parents who have donated items to help the baby and nursery room garden. We have had a lovely few weeks out in the garden enjoying the different environment, let’s hope the warmer weather returns soon.. The children have been really enjoying tatty bumpkin and have also enjoyed moving to the different animals. We would like to say a huge thank you to the parent that donated the ball pit to baby room. The children very much enjoy playing in it.

 

Nursery Room News

In the nursery we have now moved the children’s art folders so that they are accessible to the parents. Please can we ask that once you have been handed over to by a member of staff that you check your child’s individual folder for any letters and art work. The nursery staff are also developing different areas in the garden area using recyclable materials. If you have any of the following unwanted items, we would be grateful if you could donate them to us:

·        Door handles

·        Milk crates

·        Plastic bottles

·        Curtain rings

·        Old CD’s

·        Pieces of material

·        Hooks

·        Large yoghurt pots

·        Metal utensils

As many of you have noticed both nursery rooms have been decorated. Over the next few weeks we will be transforming them even more with exciting new displays.

Friday 15^th March is Sam’s last day as she will be going on maternity leave. She would like to say ‘Thank you’ for your kind words and support. We look forward to seeing her and her new baby very soon.

Preschool News

In pre-school we have had our superhero day which the children really enjoyed. They loved the face paints and superhero role play. We have had a great time building in our re designed outdoor construction area and we are enjoying making dens. The children have also been enjoying indoor activities like role playing in the new ICT area. A few of the children have loved going to the mobile library to get some book to borrow and share with their friends. We are all now looking forward to Red Nose Day so dress in red and don’t forget your crazy hair.

 

From all at Clover Court

Written by Lucy Goddard

Blog Update: 15^th February 2013

Key Person Groups:

We would like to inform you that in the Nursery Room, as of this week Katie will be taking on Sam’s Key Person Group. Therefore, if your child’s Key Person is currently Sam; please know that you can now go to Katie to discuss their learning and development.

Maternity Leave:

Sam who is based in the Nursery Room will be going on maternity leave on Friday 15^th March; this will be her last day with us.

Sainsbury’s Vouchers:

Here at Clover Court Nursery and Pre-school we have just started to collect our Sainsbury’s vouchers for this year. We would be grateful if you could donate your vouchers to us so that we can use them to purchase new equipment and resources for the children.

Spare Clothing:

We are running low on spare clothing supplies and would be very grateful for any donations you may have in this department, in particular; trousers/bottoms, underwear and socks. Thank you!

Mud Kitchen:

We would like to say a huge thank you to our parents for supporting our implementation of Mud Kitchens in our Nursery and Preschool gardens. The children have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the new learning environments and their learning and development has been highly promoted through their experiences.

Missing Items:

We are missing a grey and black striped winter hat, which has a peak at the front. If your child has taken this home by mistake, please could you return it to pre-school.

Thank you very much for your help!

Louise and the team at Clover Court